MCPL Ask-a-Librarian-Answers at your fingertips.

How do I renew my library card account?

Answer

Library cards must be renewed annually. MCPL wants to be sure that your contact information is up-to-date and that any fines or fees are paid. If your card expires, you will not be able to check out materials, place holds, use the databases or renew items you have checked out beyond the card's expiration date. You will also be unable to use the library's public computers. Read more about why library cards expire annually.

You can renew your library account from your account online.

If your account is in good standing and your contact information has not changed, you can renew your card online in My Account. After signing in, click on Renew My Account in the summary box on the right. The Renew My Account button will only appear when your account is under 30 days from expiration.

You can also renew by phone by calling either Ask-a-librarian at 240-777-0001 or your local library.

If you owe money, pay all fines and fees. If you pay online, please wait a day or two to renew your account, because we must manually post your credit card payment to your library account.

We send a renewal reminder by email a month before your card expires if you receive email notifications from the libraries. If a library account is renewed before the actual expiration date, the day that the account is renewed becomes the new anniversary date of the account. The account will expire one year from the renewal day.

Live Chat

Using this service you may be chatting with MCPL librarians or librarians at other libraries. All librarians will assist you and, if needed, refer your question, to MCPL librarians.

For more than a decade, Montgomery County Public Libraries has offered a live, digital chat reference service. Developed by MCPL staff in 2002, with just a chat box on the main webpage, we quickly expanded to include chat reference options that could be accessed across the website and even in the catalog. This year the Maryland AskUsNow! cooperative, of which MCPL is a member, began providing the same type of chat reference service to all its participating members. We are pleased to announce that, by joining forces with the Maryland AskUsNow! cooperative - a network of librarians worldwide - MCPL will continue to support our community with the same quality chat reference service that we have offered for the last 11 years, but it will now be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We look forward to continuing our reference chats!